Dispersible fatty amines



DISPERSIBLE FATTY AMINES Thomas H. Lentz, St. Louis Park,- and-Joseph W. Opie and David E. Terry, Minneapolis, Minn., assignors to General Mills, Inc., a corporation of Delaware N0 Drawing. Application July 19, 1954-, Serial No. 444,355

Claims. (Cl. 25Z--61) The present invention relates to a composition composed largely of higher fatty amines in such a form that they are readily dispersible in water.

The higher fatty amines, especially those derived from tallow fatty acids, are used in very large quantities in mineral flotation operations. To obtain the maximum re sults from a fatty collector, such as tallow amine, the amine must be thoroughly dispersed in the aqueous phase of a flotation pulp. It is then completely available to acidic minerals such as silica for surface adsorption and subsequent flotation. Since only a mono-molecular layer of collector is necessary to float sized mineral particles, and only 5% surface coating renders a mineral particle floatable, complete dispersion of collector prior to the attachment to a mineral surface facilitates the adsorption of single molecules rather than several molecular layers. Consequently the amine collector can be used in a most efficacious manner and insmaller quantities in a dispersed form than can chemically identical non-dispersible amines.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a novel fatty amine composition which is read ily dispersible in: water.

The invention is applicable to the long chain fatty aminesin general. It is particularly adapted to the longer chain amines such as those containing l4-22 or more carbon atoms. These amines are frequently solid or soft semi-solid materials which are very viscous and, accordingly, are very difficult to disperse. The tallow amines are used very extensively for commercial flotation. Tallow amines in general are composed of a mixture of amines comprising approximately 50% oleylarnine and approximately 50% a mixture of palmityl and stearylamine. It is evident that amines. for flotation may be made from the fatty acldspf other fats or oils, both animal and vegetable. The amines may be isolated pure amines but in general would be a mixture of the amines from thewhole fat or oil or from some selected fraction thereof. The amines may be either saturated or unsaturated or mixtures thereof.

The composition of the present invention is composed of the long chain fatty amine, a solvent therefor in the form of an alkoxyalkanol and a dispersing agent. The alkoxyalkanol suitable for the present invention has the following formula:

in which R is an alkyl group containing from 1-4 carbon atoms. Typical compounds suitable for this purpose are Z-ethoxyethanol, butoxyethanol, Z-methoxyethanol and the like.

'atent O The dispersing agent may be either a cationic or a nonionic dispersing agent. Any compound in this category may be used for this purpose. Typical dispersing. agents include polyoxyethylene esters of mixed fatty and rosin acids and substituted oxazolines. In view of'the cationic nature of the amine it is possible to prepare a dispersing agent by simply neutralizing a small portion of the amine with a suitable acid such as acetic acid. When from 2 -3% of the amines are neutralized the intrinsic emulsifying agent formed was found to give excellent emulsification of the composition.

It is preferred to include as high a concentration of the amines in the composition as possible, while still obtaining a readily dispersible and fluid product. Generally it is not necessary to use suflicient of the solvent to dissolve completely all of the amine. Suflicient solvent is. employed to render the composition fluid and dispersible. Generally thepreferred compositions contain suflicient solvent so that -95% of the amine is dis-. solved and from 525% of the amine by weight may be in the form of suspended solids. Usually from l020% of the solvent is sufiicient to accomplish this result. The remaining -90% of the composition is the fatty amine containing only a small quantity of dispersant. For example a typical composition is one composed of approximately technical grade tallow amines, 15% of 2- ethoxy ethanol and a small quantity of acetic acid sufficient to neutralize from 23% of the amine. In this composition from 10-15% by weight of the amines remain undissolved but the composition is fluid and is readily dispersible in water. In place of acetic acid for neutralization of the amine any acid which is sufliciently reactive to form an amine salt may be used. Typical acids include formic, glycolic, hydrochloric, and the like.

EXAMPLE 1 Technical tallow amine and Z-ethoxyethanol and acetic acid were blended together in the proportions indicated in the. following table. The compositions obtained were fluid at room temperature and contained the indicated quantities. of undispersed solids notwithstanding the presence of the undispersed solids the materials were fluid and were readily dispersible in water. Samples of these materials were dispersed in cold tap water to produce a 5%. dispersion. The stability of these dispersions is likewise disclosed in the following table. This shows that even a minute quantity of acetic acid serves to effect some dispersibility of the composition but that the optimum. quantity of acetic acid appears to be approximately 0.5% which is approximately enough to form the amine salts of about 23% of the tallow amine.

Technical Tallow Amine Percent Solids at Room Temp.

5% Dispersion in Cold 'lapWater Acetic Acid 2ethoxy- Sample ethanol Breaks after 1 hr. Stable. Do.

EXAMPLE 2 Composition No. 2 from Example 1 was used for the flotation of silica from phosphate rock. A similar flotation was performed employing the acetate of technical tallow am-ine as a flotation agent.

amine acetate is a conventional flotation agent. sults are indicated in the following table:

This technical tallow The re- Phosphate beneficiation with fluid tallow amines lbs. Phosphate Concentrate Silica Tailing reagent per Percent Percent BPL Peumut Fe-cent Percent BPL Percent ton Wt. BPL Units H01 BPL Units BPL Insol. Recovery 1. 85% Technical Tallow Amine, 195% Zethoxyethanol, Acetic Acid 0.32 90.0 81.1 73.0 3.63 10.0 12.4 1.2 98.6 2. Acetate of Technical Talc low Amine 0.36 89.4 82.0 73.3 4. 52 10.6 6.3 0.7 99.1

This table shows that approximately equivalent results were obtained in the two instances notwithstanding the fact that where the amine had been fluidized approximately less amine was used. A saving in amine is thereby obtained in addition to the ease of obtaining dispersion of the amine product.

EXAMPLE 3 A reagent was prepared from 80% of technical tallow amine, 19 /2 of 2-ethoxy ethanol and 0.5% acetic acid. The reagent was fluid and contained approximately 5% solids by weight. It dispersed in water readily to produce a 5% stable dispersion.

This reagent was used in phosphate flotation on a difierent sample of ore from that referred to in Example 2. A flotation of the same phosphate ore was also conducted with the reagent referred to in Example 2 and with technical tallow amine acetate. The results obtained are incontaining from 1-4 carbon atoms, and a small proportion of a cationic dispersant.

3. A fluid amine product comprising from 80 to 90% of a long chain fatty amine containing from 14-22 carbon atoms and from 10 to 20% of an ether alcohol having the formula ROC H OH in which R is an alkyl group containing from 1-4 carbon atoms, and a small prodicated in the following table:

Phosphate Concentrate Silica Taiiing lbs. Percent Run Reagent Rea ent BPL per ton Percent Percent BPL Percent Percent Percent BPL Recovery Wt. BPL Units 1101 Wt. BPL Units Insol.

l 80% Tech. Tallow Amine, 19%;; 2- 0.35 86.0 85.8 73.8 3.67 14.0 16.7 2.3 97.0

cthoxyethanol, Acetic Acid. 2 85% Tech. Tallow Amine, 14%% 2- 0.32 84.9 85.1 72.3 3.54 15.1 21.5 3.2 95.8

ethoxycthanol, 36% Acetic Acid. 3 Tech. Tallow amine acetate 0.36 81.0 78.9 63.9 2.19 19.0 27.3 5.2 92.5

References Cited in the file of this patent The above table shows that the results obtainable in UNITED STATES PATENTS runs 1 and 2 are nearly identical although less reagent was used in run No. 2. While run N0. 3 demonstrated 2,298,281 corley et a1 1942 a better grade of concentrate (2.19% insolubles) it sac- 23071397 Falioner et a1 1943 rificed recovery by from 3 to 5 units. In view of the chnstmann et a1 May 1945 above it is preferred to employ approximately 85% of 2'551197 Barr May 1951 the fatty amine in the reagent, but this may be varied 01 Honmgsworth et a1 221955 g l FOREIGN PATENTS ow, ere ore, we c aim: 1. A fluid amine product comprising from 80 t 90% France 1951 of a long chain fatty amine containing from 14-22 car- OTHER REFERENCES bon atoms and from 10 to 20% of an ether alcohol hav- Synthetic Organic Chemicals, twelfth edition (1945), pub. by Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation of New York, N. Y., page 37.

Armeens, pamphlet pub. by Armour Chemical Div. of Armour and Company, Chicago, Illinois (August 1949), pages 5 and 6. 

1. A FLUID AMINE PRODUCT COMPRISING FROM 80 TO 90% OF A LONG CHAIN FATTY AMINE CONTAINING FROM 14-22 CAR BON ATOMS AND FROM 10 TO 20% OF AN ETHER ALCOHOL HAVING THE FORMULA ROC2H4OH IN WHICH R IS AN ALKYL GROUP CONTAINING FROM 1-4 CARBON ATOMS, AND A SMALL PROPORTION OF A DISPERSANT SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CATIONIC AND NON-IONIC DISPERSANTS. 